Nurturing New Life

10/6/2025

Consider please:

When you have had a close relationship with someone who was playing religion (or just thought Christianity was something you believe in, but no miracle or true conversion required—“if I don’t experience it then no one else has either”), for a long time and finally that person comes to the point of complete abandonment, your reaction shouldn’t just be, “Whew, finally!” when they become a true Christian.

The amount of work immediately following is like taking care of a newborn baby—NON-stop caring and helping them learn the basics of life! If you think they’ll just “get it on their own” because they were “around so long that they know everything”— That is so wrong. YOU need to help take care of them and walk them along the way.

When my spouse finally bowed their knee to Jesus, the season immediately following that was a TREMENDOUS amount of work and even pain. The “echoes” and bad, un-Christian-like habits in the functioning of the relationship seemed ginormous, and we were dealing with rooting out past junk *every single day.*

Again, you CAN NOT JUST rejoice and move on because “now they are finally a Christian.”

You must approach every day with faith and grace and reminders of the provision available. You have to be prepared to stop and smile with a, “Wait, this is the old way. Can you take a pause and consider a Jesus Way to Respond?” And, “Can we navigate this situation as coheirs now?” And, “Can we pray together about this?” Or, “This is just an old selfish habit, isn’t it? Just leave it.” Or “old opinions” or “old selfish ways of functioning” or thinking... or, or, or...

Once someone is born again, if you really want to help them grow into being like Christ in His Character and to “turn over a new leaf” by repenting of old goat trails and finding new paths of righteousness—then that is a tremendous amount of work for you. Do the work.

If you don’t do that work on the front end, the newborn baby will suffer a lot because your hand-to-hand help is part of the pure spiritual milk that the spiritual baby craves. And if you don’t do that and just leave the baby to take care of itself... Or even worse, if you just try to “prop the newborn baby up” into sitting position (because you don’t want things to go back to how they used to be, so you kinda cover for them. Yuck!) without dealing with and helping them actually repent of the past life and the old ways, then you will SERIOUSLY regret it and pay for it later.

Can you elaborate and add the difference between, “Know the Lord, Know the Lord,” versus nurturing the New Life inside of someone?

“Stop doing that, that’s a sin, and a Christian wouldn’t do that—so stop it or...”

versus

“Are you really comfortable that you are making Jesus smile when you do that? Have you talked to him about it? Do you feel like that represents the fruit of the Spirit? What is your motive? Do you know?”

The “baby” text above and “God’s Delivery System” both reminded me of a time I watched a father let his food grow colder and colder (I kinda prefer hot food :P) as he carefully cut the chicken tender into very small pieces and patiently and methodically fed his child. That is the VERY DEFINITION of being a Father (children, fathers, young men), and not just for newborn Christians either (though PLEASE do not miss the exhortation above that is specific to new Believers). As we lovingly and intently observe and watch over each other, looking out as we would for a child walking through a parking lot, we must take the time... MAKE the time, to guide and instruct and reprove. We are on the same team. I am you and you are me. And if we love each other AS we love ourselves, this has to be one of the very highest priorities in our lives... not meals or other social, moral activities, but Holy Spiriting one another DAILY. Being a Father doesn’t mean you help people “below” you spiritually. It means you have moved on past feeding just yourself to caring MORE about feeding others and “helping them to OBEY” and “fill the Gap” and “love God ONLY.”